With forms in hand, and having followed the advice of various online articles regarding SB-100, I arrived at the Los Gatos DMV at 7:30 AM this (freezing) morning to find a line that wrapped ¼ way around the building.
8:07, the doors opened, and I was given number B003.
By 8:30, I was at the counter. I explained to the (nice) lady that I would like to register my 1982 West Coast Cobra under SB100. I learned that this is pretty-much like walking up to a bank teller and stating "give me all your money."
IMMEDIATELY, a manager (Cindy?), heard this statement...and attacked. Literally CHARGED at me. She said “oh my god, not another one of these damn kit cars. These things are a damn nightmare. These guys think they know everything. They think they know more than we know. None of them even have a car that runs…all they are is a pile of parts. You can’t register a car that is a pile of parts. You have to build it first, then you have to babbidy blah blah blah blah blah.” I thought she would never stop talking.
She then snatched my pile of paperwork and literally tore through it. When she found my printed article from cobratrader.com, she literally shook it in my face and said “THIS IS NOT THE DMVs INSTRUCTIONS; THIS IS NOT HOW THE PROCESS WORKS. THESE PEOPLE HAVE NEVER WORKED FOR THE DMV FOR EVEN ONE DAY!!!” However, we find later that it actually is exactly how the process works…she’s got a major chip on her shoulder.
I then explained (extremely nicely) that I was sorry she hated me and my car, but that it was my understanding that I could pre-register the vehicle and that they would allocate my SB-100 number and allow me to come back with my CHP certification, Smog Referee paperwork, and so on at a later date.” She then BARKED in a loud voice, “I’m not spending 2 hours of my day on the phone with Sacramento trying to get a number for a car that doesn’t even run!!!…that’s just STUPID.” She actually shook her finger at me and threw my paperwork in front of the (nice) lady that was servicing that counter. It’s all I could do to refrain from laughing. It was insane. Then, she marched into the back room.
The (nice) lady at the counter was rolling her eyes and cringing through this entire rhetorical process of badgering the innocent kit car builder. A few seconds after the manager left, she said “Is she gone?” and looked at me. I nodded. She said, “well, from what I can see, your paperwork is in order”. However, there is a NEW form (Statement of Construction REG5036) that must be filled out. The old form (Miscellaneous Statement of Facts REG256) is no longer valid. She let me fill out this form at the counter.
It took her about an hour to go through the paperwork, mostly due to the fact that this kit was purchased from the estate of a deceased friend (Charlie Bruno), and has been sitting around (never registered) since 1982. Most of the problems she ran into was due to the age of the MSO, and the shoddy original bill-of-sale that was lunch for several moths over the years. However, she managed to get what she needed.
The DMV was EXTREMELY unhappy about my not having a receipt for the transmission that I paid cash for. I STRONGLY recommend you don’t attempt this without receipts for the Chassis, Body, Engine, and Trans. If you are missing a receipt, it sets of a major flag. I had to do some begging to have them even continue…and now they have put a conditional registration on my car that requires I generate some sort of receipt for the trans. Anyone have a crayon handy?
Once all the paperwork was in order, the (nice) lady looked at me and said “We need to stall another 10 minutes until the witch goes on break…then I’ll take this over to the assistant manager and get him to call Sacramento.” So, we chatted about stuff for 10 minutes...
10:00 came around, and she did exactly that. By 10:30, we were done. My SB-100 number is 2004-162. The fee paid was $1200. (It was $3800 before she pushed some magic buttons…I have no idea, I hope $1200 is reasonable…at that moment, I’d write a check for just about anything. LOL).
So, all I can say is “ready your peril sensitive glasses” and get your butt down there if you want a SB-100… There are apparently 338 left for the year as of 10:15 this morning 1/5/04. So...they issued 150+ the first day I guess. I'd hope the burn rate would slow down as time marches on, but 150 numbers gone in one day is a bad starting rate. I'd bet that the numbers will be gone well before June...probably by March.
I'm just happy "step 1" is over and steps 2,3 are reportedly easier.
Byron Reynolds
RACE Systems
San Jose, CA